Activation Manual
Contents
General Information
The Plugin Alliance Licensing System
License Types
2 The Offline Activation Process
2 Offline Activation
2 Offline License Management
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Installation
Download
Install
3 USB Activation
3 We support USB activation. Use it! 3
Managing Licenses
4 Advanced License Management
4 Licenser Toolbar
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4 Troubleshooting
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The Online Activation Process
One Machine, One Account
Online Activation
Save Password
System Requirements and supported Platforms
If you do not have an account:
For latest System requirements & Supported Platforms, please click
the link above, and visit the product list page on the Plugin Alliance register for free on the Plugin Alliance website
website to see particular details for your product.
For more information, please visit: w w w . p l u g i n - a l l i a n c e . c o m
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General Information
The Plugin Alliance Licensing System
Alliance products include a proprietary licensing system which is completely software based. Thus, no hardware license dongle, special drivers, or serial numbers
are required to run any of them. Everything is handled from within the software
product. All of your licenses are stored on our server and linked to a single file that
resides on your computer or USB flash drive, which is uniquely tied to the machine
identifier of that system. This file must be updated whenever you buy or demo a
new Alliance product and install it on your computer.
We support either online or offline activation. We highly recommend using online
activation, if possible. A standard license entitles you to three authorizations, which
means you can activate your software on up to three different computers or USB
flash drives.
Authorization requires you to have a current Plugin Alliance account. If you don’t
already have one, you can create an account at https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/
registration.html. Opening an account is easy to do, totally free, and entitles you to
many benefits.
The Plugin Alliance Account Page
License Types
Our license system supports Full Licenses, Trial Licenses and Lease Licenses. Each
license is valid for all plugin formats offered by a product, and can be activated on
up to three separate devices.
A Full License unlocks your product for an unlimited amount of time. You will obtain
a full license whenever you purchase a new Alliance product.
A Trial License will let you try a product for 14 days. Trial licenses are free of charge.
There are no limitations to the demo versions of the products. All features are available during the demo period. A trial license can be activated on three devices as
well, but it will only be valid for 14 days after the first activation.
A Lease License allows you to get interest-free financing on any curated bundle that
costs $500 or more. Lease licenses are valid for a period of 30 days. They can be renewed after expiration (see below) by paying your next installment. Early payments
are also allowed, and encouraged.
Managing a Lease License
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Installation
Download
Download the installer for the product you want to use from the respective
product page on our website, or from the ‘Manage Registered Plugins’
page in your Account. It doesn’t matter if you are going to try out a demo
or if you are going to install a product for which you have purchased a full
license; the installer will be the same.
Install
We have separate installers for Windows and Mac OS, as well as for
specific platforms like Avid VENUE. Use the standard Mac/Windows
installers for all the major native plugin formats: AudioUnit, VST, and
AAX. You can also use the standard installers for AAX DSP, in plugins
that support it. Download and run the appropriate installer, and follow
the instructions that appear during the installation process.
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The Online Activation Process
Start your host software once the plugin installation has finished. In Pro Tools, your
new plugins will produce the activation dialog shown below during the plugin scan
at startup. Please note that Pro Tools will incorrectly report that your new plugin is
invalid if you don’t complete this process at startup.
hold licenses in the currently authorized account will need to be re-activated in order
to be used. For these situations, USB activation also helps by enabling two different
accounts with different licenses to work on the same system, authorizing all plugins
for which licenses are collectively held.
All other DAWs will wait until you
instantiate your new plugin in a session before starting the activation
process. In this case, you can just
click on the “Activation Required”
text in the plugin window to open
the activation dialog.
If you chose I’m online, the online
activation dialog will appear. You
will be prompted for your registered
email address and your password.
Use the same credentials that you
use to login to your plugin-alliance.
com account.
An Unactivated Plugin
You’ll see a pulldown menu in the activation dialog that lets you choose which device
to activate. Your options will be your computer or any connected USB drives (see
“USB Activation” on page 6). Selecting ‘Activate all my licenses’ will activate all
valid licenses in your account for the selected system; otherwise, you will receive a
message detailing any specific reason a plugin could not be activated (such as not having
enough activation seats available).
You can also choose whether you want
to use the online or the offline activation
procedure by clicking the ‘I’m online’ or
‘I’m offline’ buttons. If you have a choice,
we recommend using the online option
since it’s the easiest and is automatic.
One Machine, One Account
Activation Dialog
Because all the plugin formats use the
same license file, there is no need to reactivate the same plugin in different hosts.
So for example, if you activate a plugin
using Pro Tools your plugin will also be licensed in Logic, as long as you are on the
same computer or USB flash drive.
There are cases in which your plugins can become unactive, such as when you sign
into a new account via the activation dialog. In these cases, any plugins that do not
Online Activation
As soon as you click Activate, the
product will contact our server and
download a fresh license file to your
computer or USB flash drive.
Your Plugin Alliance products are
now activated; any product for which
you do not hold a valid license will have the option to activate a 14-day trial license.
Save Password
It’s possible to save your password by selecting the Save password checkbox in the
online activation dialog. Saving your password allows you to activate new products
in the future without having to re-enter your login data for every activation process.
When enabling this feature, passwords
are encrypted and securely stored on
your system’s hard disk.
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The Offline Activation Process
Offline Activation
If your audio computer is not online, the product activation and the transfer of
your license file must be done manually via an additional computer with Internet
access. In this case choose I’m offline in the Activation window. The offline activation dialog will pop up.
You will have to exchange a file between your
offline computer and your online computer
twice to activate a product on an offline computer using e.g. a USB flash drive.
Step 1: Log in to your Plugin Alliance account
and make sure you have a valid Trial, Lease, or
Full license in your Plugin Alliance account for
the plugin to be activated. Of course, this can
only be done on a computer with Internet access. To create a trial license in your Plugin Alliance account please see “Creating a Trial License” below.
Step 2: Choose Save to file and store the text file, named “machine_id.txt” on a
removable drive. Now connect the drive to your online computer. Go to “Manage
Devices” in your account page. Then upload the “machine_id.txt” file by clicking
“Choose File” in the Activate NEW Device box. Click Activate.
Offline License Management
Every offline computer has to be registered only once in your Plugin Alliance account.
To activate a new plugin on an already registered device, skip Step 2 and go to “Manage Registered Plugins” on your online computer. Select the plugin, and then select
your computer in the drop-down menu under Activate EXISTING Device. Then click
Activate. Or, to activate several new plugins at once, you can use the drop-down
menu on the Manage Devices page. Either way, you can then download a new license file and proceed to Step 3.
Creating a Trial License
If you’re using the Offline Activation method and you’d like to start a new trial, click
the Create Offline License option on your Account page. Then choose the product
you would like to test. Click Create License, and then proceed to the Offline Activation instructions above.
Step 3: Once successful, you may download your new license file to your USB
drive by clicking Download License File on the bottom of that page. Connect your
flash drive to your offline computer. In the product activation window click Open
license and choose the “pa.license” file on your flash drive. Finally, click Activate.
Your product is now activated.
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USB Activation
We support USB activation. Use it!
Alliance products give you the ability to transfer your licenses to an ordinary USB flash
drive, which then can be used to run your products on other computers without the
need for these computers to be activated. This is especially useful for traveling FOH
engineers or engineers who have to work in different studios a lot. When using this
method, we highly recommend activating USB flash drives via an online computer.
Step 1: In order to activate your product on a flash drive,
insert the drive and make sure that it is mounted in your
file system. Use an online computer on which the product
is installed. Open the plugin(s) in your DAW of choice.
Step 2: If the activation dialog isn’t already
open, open it by clicking on the little key icon in
the product’s toolbar. Select your flash drive in
the pull-down menu under the text, “Select the
device you would like to activate.” Then click
“I’m online.”
Note: There may be some very old unsupported flash drives that won’t appear in your device
drop-down. If your USB flash drive is unsupported, please switch to a newer drive.
Step 3: Enter your login data and click Activate.
The software will contact our activation server and
download a mobile license file to your flash drive
so that it can be used on any computer just by
plugging it in.
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Managing Licenses
Advanced License Management
Plugin Alliance makes it easy to reclaim an authorization from a machine you no longer use. You can even reclaim a license from a computer or flash drive that is broken
or otherwise inaccessible. All of your license data is backed up on Plugin Alliance’s
servers, so you can never lose a license to a crashed hard drive. Just log into your
Plugin Alliance account and go to Manage Devices. Then click the “Deactivate” button next to the machine name whose license you’d like to reclaim.
Licenser Toolbar
Alliance products have a toolbar below their user interface, giving you access
to additional functionality, which is described below:
PA Logo: Clicking the Plugin Alliance logo takes you to the Plugin Alliance website
via your web browser if your computer is online.
License Type: The toolbar displays information about the type of license you’re running: Trial and Lease licenses will be displayed along with the number of days until
expiration; there is no note for full licenses as these are unlimited.
Please note that you can’t reclaim the same plugin license from more than seven
unique machines, but if the same machine is deactivated more than once, it will not
be counted again. So if you frequently need to move your authorizations to new computers, please consider keeping at least one of your three authorizations on a flash
drive (see USB activation, above).
Keep in mind that, because your license data is stored remotely, there is no need to
deactivate a computer or flash drive when you reformat it. Our servers will still be
able to recognize that you’re using the same device, so you can reauthorize it without
wasting an authorization.
Note to Windows users:
Due to technical restrictions on Windows platforms, certain hardware or settings
changes may change your computer’s machine ID, which will consequently cause the
license server to see it as a new machine. Consider using “USB Activation” (on page
6) if this is an issue on your Windows PC.
‘$’ Icon: If you have a demo or financed version of any of our products, you can click
this icon to open a browser that redirects you to the respective product page in the
Plugin Alliance store; this is where you can easily purchase a product or pay your
next installment without having to look it up on our website.
‘Key’ Icon: Clicking on the key icon brings up the activation dialog, allowing you to
manually reauthorize a device in the event of a license upgrade or addition. You can
also use this feature to activate additional computers or USB flash drives.
‘?’ Icon: Clicking the ‘?’ icon opens up a context menu that links to the product
manual PDF, as well as other helpful links, e.g. to check for product updates online.
You must have a PDF reader installed on your computer to be able to read the manual. You can get a free PDF reader at www.adobe.com.
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Troubleshooting
Stuck in the process?
Below are some solutions for common issues users may
experience during the installation or activation process.
I purchased a license for a plugin, but it’s still running
as a trial.
Many PA plugins look similar or have similar sounding
names (like the “bx_opto” and the “bx_opto Pedal”), so
double-check to be sure you installed the right plugin.
If the same computer name appears twice on the Manage Devices page, and you’re not sure which one is the
computer you’re currently using, click both of the “Deactivate” buttons to deactivate both computers. Then
launch your DAW and run the licenser again. Then your
computer will be properly authorized, and you won’t be
wasting an authorization. If this happens frequently,
please contact Customer Support.
There are certain settings changes you can make on WinCheck to see if you inadvertently created a second Plugin dows that will change your machine ID, so if you find
Alliance account. The activation server will report that that you are frequently making changes that make your
you don’t have a license if you don’t enter the same login computer unrecognizable to the licenser, please considcredentials you used when you purchased your license. er keeping at least one of your three authorizations on
a flash drive. For details, check the “USB Activation”
I installed a plugin, but I can’t find it in my DAW.
section of the Activation Manual.
If you’re in ProTools and you’re inserting a mono effect
(like an EQ) on to a stereo track, be sure to look in the I keep getting an “Activation server did not respond”
“multi-mono plug-in” category, instead of the “multi- message when I try to activate.
channel plug-in” category.
Our servers sometimes get particularly high traffic at
certain times; try authorizing at a different time of day.
If you’re using a plugin that is exclusively for processing
a stereo signal (like the bx_shredspread), you won’t find Make sure that you don’t have any apps running in the
it in the plugin list on a mono track.
background that block certain internet connections.
If you’re on Windows, be sure you picked the right installer (32 or 64 bit). The plugin’s bit architecture has to
match that of your DAW, which is not necessarily the
same as that of your OS. If you’re not sure which one is
supported on your DAW, just install both of them.
If you’re only authorizing one plugin, try deselecting the
“Activate all my plugins” option in the activation prompt.
lose your licenses. It will just cause the plugin licenser
to run the next time you use your plugins, and then it
will regenerate your license file. To find your license
file on Mac OS X, go to Finder > Go > Go to Folder, and
enter this file path:
~/Library/Application Support/
On Windows, go to this file path:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\
Either way, you can then look through the resulting directory, find the folder named “Plugin Alliance” and
throw it away.
I installed a PA plugin, and it doesn’t have any factory
presets.
Go into your preset folder, create a folder inside it named
“Plugin Alliance” and then run the plugin installer again.
Preset folder locations can vary, depending on the DAW
and any user customizations, but here are the most
common preset locations:
Mac:
~/Documents/Pro Tools/Plug-In Settings
~/Library/Audio/Presets
If the first three options don’t help, you can use the “Offline Authorization” method, as described in the Activa- Windows:
tion Manual. This method is mainly for users who don’t
I installed the free plugin bundle, but it’s still asking
have internet on their DAW computer, but it can also %USERPROFILE%\Documents\VST3 Presets\
for authorization.
be helpful for users who have trouble with the standard
You still need to have a Plugin Alliance account to use authorization procedure.
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Pro Tools\Plug-In Setthe free plugins. Just enter your login info the first time
tings\
you use the free plugins, and then they will be available The licenser is behaving strangely (i.e., repeatedly
If the presets still don’t appear, please contact
asking to authorize the same plugin, etc.)
to use on your computer.
On rare occasions, the PA license file can become cor- Customer Support.
I’m wasting one of my authorizations because the
rupt. If you think this may have happened to you, you
same machine is being counted twice.
can delete your license file. This will not cause you to
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Plugin Alliance LLC
1200 Pacific Avenue · Suite 290
Santa Cruz, California 95060
United States of America
www.plugin-alliance.com
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